Dueling Fates
by Renhold
Summary: It's my own take on SAO, all original characters and locations and with magic but with some of the premises from SAO, It's about four friends who decide to pick up a game known as "Dueling Fates" for the newly released VR system known as "Brain Wave", the adventure ahead will forever change their lives


Dueling Fates

Chapter 1; A New World

Our adventure begins with four friends, all standing in line at the local game store together one summer night, waiting for what they would soon realize would be the beginning of the ultimate test of their friendships and the ending of all their self doubt within themselves.

"Ugh... How much longer until this store is going to open up, I'm getting really tired of just standing here" whined a man with short scruffy brown hair, he was a larger build and was the second shortest of the group, standing at a mere 5'9, Brandon was always a trouble maker but had a good heart, he was always impatient, head strong and never knew when too shut up but if you were in trouble he would be the first to have your back.

"Brandon if you don't shut up soon I'm going to make you, and you know what that means..." another man said with an annoyed tone in his voice; this one was the shortest of the friends at 5'8 with long straight red hair, bigger build with a short goatee with more hair fallowing his chin line, Michael was always a smart kid, he just never had the self confidence too show it, he was a strong willed, optimistic person who was almost always level headed about everything, he was the one everyone came too if they had a problem or a question, he was always straight with people even if the truth would hurt them, Michael and Brandon have been best friends sense public school and act just as brothers.

"I know they are just empty threats Mike, so don't try it" Brandon said laughing it off with a cocky smirk as he turned away too look and see if the line has started moving, a few seconds later a soft voice could be heard standing next too Michael; the third of the friends was Manda, she was the second tallest and was normally very shy, with long chestnut brown hair, and a figure most men would drool over, she was always the one breaking up the fights between Michael and Brandon, she was a strong, genital and loving person but had low self confidence about her self.

"Brandon I wouldn't push him he didn't have a good sleep last night so he's in a bit of a bitchy mood" Manda said shaking her head in disappointment as she watched Brandon and Michael fighting and acting like idiots, "I'll show you empty threats" Michael said grinding his teeth as he slapped Brandon upside the head so hard that he took a step forward, Brandon quickly turned around and was about to punch Michael in the arm before he was intervened by the final friend of this story.

Dylan, the tallest of the friends standing at a whopping 6'2 with a thin muscular build, and very short brown hair Dylan was the man who would always try and keep everyone happy and always stopping Michael and Brandon when things get too rough, he was a very genital, kind and funny guy who always had high spirits about everything he did, he was the one who acted the most mature out of the boys.

"I'm going to stop you there Brandon, don't forget we have a lady in our presences and a lot of children around us, so lets change the subject... So Mike how long have you and Manda been dating?" Dylan said smiling as he forced Brandon back into being calm, "ummm what is it now hun like 3 months?" Michael said as he looked up at Manda with a confused look on his face, "Yeah about that I think" Manda said smiling leaning over then giving Michael a kiss on the lips.

after a few more minutes of waiting under the bright, full summer moon the line finally starts to move, "YES FINALLY!" Brandon shouted in glee as he slowly inched his way up to the front of the line with his friends right behind him, "Brandon would you calm down already we have already bought our systems and the game in advance its not like we aren't going to be getting them" Michael said chuckling as he watched Brandon being childish, "I know that but come on its the first full virtual reality gaming system ever to be released, you can't tell me that you're not excited" Brandon said with a large smile on his face and a childish gleem and wonder in his eyes.

"Now remember what everyone promised me we would pull an all nighter tonight too all play it together" Brandon shot out with a strict tone, "yes Brandon how could we forget with you reminding us every two minutes" Dylan said laughing as they take a few more steps closer to the front desk, after waiting another few minutes they all finally got too the front desk, "what can I help you with today?" the clerk said with a smile but already knowing why they were all there.

"Here's my recite I'm here to pick up the Brain Wave and a copy of Dueling Fates" Brandon said nearly jumping the counter ready to grab it himself, "OK one moment please" the clerk said nervously looking at how intense Brandon's being, after a few minutes the clerk comes back out with a large squire metal box and a plastic game case on top, "here you go, but I'd better warn you abou-" the clerk says but is interrupted rudely by Brandon, "yeah yeah yeah what ever you say boss, now gimmegimmiegimmie".

Brandon says quickly as he snatches the box and game from the clerk, next Michael walks up and also grabs his, "Alright here's yours, are you going to listen too me?" the clerk said slightly annoyed, "ha ha, yes ill listen to what you have too say, so what's this warning all about?" Michael said curiously with a bit of caution, "Well don't play the Brain Wave for more then two days straight, it will go into an auto lock and wont let you log out until you beat the game" the clerk said with a very serious tone to his voice.

"How would they let the system out then with this major of a bug? I mean wouldn't that cause chaos if people found out?" Michael said with a surprised tone as Dylan and Manda walk up with their systems and game, "well the developers said that no person would be able to stay up for two days in the game anyways so the government gave them a special pass on it, so just be very careful alright? We don't need any repeating customer dying" the clerk said with a concerned look on his face.

Just as Michael was about to ask what he meant by dying Manda, Dylan and Brandon all yelled to Michael to hurry up because they were going to leave with out him, Michael quickly grabbed the metal box on the counter with gripped the plastic case in his teeth and quickly ran too catch up with his friends still troubled by the thought of what the clerk told him, during the bus ride home that sentence kept running through his mind "We don't need any repeating customers dying on us", what could it mean Michael kept repeating it too himself more and more, finally he couldn't take it he asked the group on what they thought he meant.

First Dylan speaks up in a calm voice, "I wouldn't really look too deep into Mike, I mean he could just be over exaggerating about the whole thing" Manda quickly fallows with Dylan "yeah that's very true plus don't you think that the government would have stopped them if it was really that dangerous, I mean I don't think that the government would try and kill its own people" she says jokingly as she giggles, "what about you Brandon? Do you have anything to add?" Mike says looking at Brandon as he contently stairs at the manual, "huh? Oh ugh no not really, I wasn't really paying attention... Hey do you guys think I can tame a dragon" Brandon says with a smile only a child on its birthday could produce.

Everyone all sighed at the same time as they turned back around waiting for their stop to come, a few moments later they finally reached their stop, Dylan and the rest of the group split up, Michael and Brandon going one way, Dylan going another and finally Manda going another, "alright so we all plan on meeting in the starting town right?" Michael asked just to make sure everyone remembered the plan.

"Yeah don't worry, we will all meet in the center of town by the giant ass statue sound good?" Manda said with smile on her face as Michael and her hugged and kissed goodbye, "Alright we'll all see you there" Michael said with a smile on his face as he walked away with Brandon waving too Dylan and Manda, as Brandon still has his nose in the manual, later that night when they got home Michael installed the Brain Wave on too both his and Brandon's computer, then installs the game with ease.

"Alright Brandon everything is done, come and play" Michael yell as he hears Brandon's feet running towards him making the sound comparable to a herd of elephants, Brandon jumps on his bed slides on the head piece and turns it on, as quickly as he turned it on he was in the game, laying there almost lifeless, Michael shook his head and walked over into his room and slid his helmet on as he lie down on his bed.

He turned it on and was greeted with a bright white screen, slowly the words "gaming never felt so real" came into focus as it panned out to reveal the company, "Hard Tech", Michael watched with a large smile on his face only now realizing how real it was, it wasn't just a dream anymore he was about to play a full VR game, a menu popped up with a text box saying "visual control" with the symbol of an open eye over top of it and "voice control" with a microphone over top of it, at the bottom there was text reading "please choose the type of menu control you would like, if you would like to control the menu's using your eyes please blink well looking at the eye, if you would like voice please say voice".

Michael quickly thought about it and looked straight in to the eye and blinked, the screen went black for a few seconds, another menu popped up with a scroll bar, there was only one icon in it, the game case of Dueling fates, Michael quickly looked at the game and blinked, when he selected the icon the screen went black with little white text reading "please relax this may take a moment".

A second later he hears a low humming the the feeling of wind against his face, he closes his eyes for a few seconds and when he reopens them a large metal door that stood almost twenty feet tall towered over him, he was stunned everywhere around him was black except the door in front of him, it had a weird golden light shining down on top of it, after a few seconds he hears a loud, deep, booming voice come from all around him it surrounds him and vibrates him to the core.

It yells down "HOHOHO PATHETIC WEAKLING, YOU ARE FAR TOO SCRONY TO FACE ME, MAYBE WHEN YOU GAIN SOME MUSSEL YOU CAN FACE ME IN OURODON'S CASTEL AND IF YOU BEAT ME ALL MY POWER AND TREASURE SHALL BE YOURS, OPEN THIS DOOR IF YOU WISH TO START YOUR JOURNY TO FACE ME", Michael takes a deep breath in and walks to the door, as he gets closer he can strangely hear pounding of drums, closer and closer he walks the sounds of the drums getting louder and louder getting faster as he steps closer, as he reaches the door the drums are deafening, he slowly reaches out and touches the door its a smooth warm metal engraved with strange pictures, once he touches the door it slowly creeks open and a blinding light engulfs him.


End file.
